Avoid Downhill Disasters

How to train for a downhill marathon

Every summer, chatter seems to spark up during group runs, on online message boards and in post-race massage tents about downhill marathons. Many downhill races held in the second half of the year – St. George, Steamtown, Tucson and Cal-International, among others– lure runners with the hopes of setting a new PR or securing a qualifying time for the following April's Boston Marathon.

If one of them is on your agenda this fall, train hard but train smart. Like Boston, each of those courses has a net downhill profile, plus varying degrees of long downhill stretches. It's certainly possible to run down a new PR on this type of course, but only if you've trained properly. Downhill running can beat up your quads – especially for a marathon – leaving you hopelessly dead-legged in the final miles of the race when you need to charge to the finish line.

Pete Rea, head coach at the ZAP Fitness training center in Blowing Rock, N.C., was an aspiring post-collegiate runner who chose Cal-International as his debut marathon in 1997. Based on his 10,000m times and his training, he figured he was ready to run a sub-2:20 marathon. Thanks to about 250 feet of elevation loss in the first 13 miles, he came through the half in 1:07:13. But, because of the abuse suffered in the first half of the race, he struggled to finish over the more gradual second half and wound up with a 2:35:07 showing for his efforts.

"The downhills absolutely ruined me," he says. "In addition to the fact that I went out too fast because it was so easy to run fast on the downhill, by the time I got into Sacramento, my quads were just absolutely ruined. I had not done enough downhill running in my training."

Josh Eberly, an elite runner from Gunnison, Colo., had a little better experience at the same race last fall, but not much. He says he was in the best shape of his life and hoped to break his 2:19:28 PR, but admits he didn't do enough specific training to match the course profile and it cost him.

"I didn't think the downhill would affect me that much and figured I could just run easy, but it's really hard on your legs to run that much downhill," says Eberly, who finished 10th in 2:23:17 after struggling over the last several miles. "I think it's possible to run relatively fast on a downhill course, but you definitely have to do some specific training for it and some downhill running."

1. PREPARE YOUR BODY

More so than any other type of course profile or distance, a downhill marathon requires some preemptive body work before a training plan begins, says Bobby McGee, a Boulder, Colo., coach who has trained numerous world-class athletes.

The peripheral conditioning before a downhill marathon is equally as important as cardiovascular conditioning because the stresses on the legs are increased on downhill courses, while at the same time running with gravity makes the cardiovascular impact slightly less.

Specifically, the quad muscles, as well as the tendons and ligaments in ankles, knees, hips and lower back, can take a beating. Developing good core strength before delving into a 12-or 16-week marathon program is a good start, but specific training to strengthen the quads, hamstrings and lower leg muscles is even better, McGee says.

He recommends doing a variety of drills such as mild lunges, negative or reverse squats, light plyometric work (in which you absorb eccentric shock), hopping and bounding so your muscles get used to the eccentric contractions, which occur when a muscle lengthens under load while downhill running.

"The eccentric stresses on the legs are increased, so you need to be stronger," McGee says. "Doing some specific exercises initially to help you with the more functional work of running downhill will go a long way."

2. RUN DOWNHILL

As you begin your marathon training program, make sure there is an increasing degree of downhill training in every cycle of training leading to the race, Rea says. And for long runs and tempo runs of 5 to 9 miles at faster than race pace, try to mimic the downhill stretches you'll find on the course you'll be running.

Long runs with significant amounts of downhills are very important, Rea concedes, but they can be a bit more perilous because they can beat up your legs and force you to take more rest than usual and possibly postpone other workouts by a day or more.

If you don't live in an area that has long downhill roads or trails similar to the race course you'll be running, find a treadmill that can be set to a downhill slope and do a long run indoors.

"If you have five or six long runs in preparation for your downhill marathon, probably half of them should have significant amounts of long downhill stretches in them," Rea says. "You don't want to overdo it, but you definitely need the downhill training."

To get your volume up without killing yourself with a 16-to 20-mile downhill run, you might run a 10-to 12-miler on a rolling course one day, followed by a 10-miler downhill the next day, McGee says. "You get high volume over two days, but you get full recovery on either side of it," he says.

About five weeks out from the Boston Marathon, McGee has his runners do a long run of about 20 miles on rolling roads with a net downhill and significant rolling terrain near the end. The following week, the long run is a continually downhill 15-mile tempo run at marathon race pace. "That's a good conditioner for what you're going to endure in the race," he says.

When it comes to intervals, it's not a bad idea to mix downhill running into some of those sessions, too, Rea says. If your workout plan calls for 10 x 800m or 6 x 1 mile on the track, consider running the first half of the reps downhill at a slightly faster speed than the workout prescribes (the effort and fatigue of downhill running is more important than the actual time) and then running the last half of the reps on a flat surface with tired legs.

Another way of simulating the fatigue would be to run the entire workout of 800s or mile repeats downhill one day and then do a challenging tempo run on a flat or rolling course the next day, says Eberly, a former NCAA Division II All-American at Western State College.

But the most important aspect, as with any training plan, is to avoid overdoing it. You're likely to be sore as you adapt to downhill training, but too much downhill running can be detrimental, leaving you overly fatigued and prone to injury.

"If you go fast on those fatigued legs once every couple of weeks, you'll help yourself a lot for the race," Eberly says. "I like to hit specifics, but I don't like to go overboard. If you go overboard, you usually do too much and beat yourself up.

3. RUN UPHILL

When you run uphill, you're still engaging your quads, but you're also working the backside of your legs and the muscle groups that work in concert with the prime movers, including hamstrings, glutes, calves and smaller muscles around the Achilles and in the feet.

Uphill running helps build pure power needed on every stride for any surface – keep in mind, most downhill courses are also peppered with intermittent uphills, too – and it also helps accentuate arm swing, leg extension and the toe-off phase of efficient running form.

For those training for a downhill marathon, Rea suggests implementing some uphill or rolling portions into every long run and substituting a set of uphill repeats in place of a track workout on occasion or mixing in a hill workout of uphill and downhill repeats.

"If your quads are overdeveloped and you have extremely weak hamstrings, it's going to beat you up on the downhills," Rea says. "So running uphills will strengthen everything on your backside, from the glutes down to the plantar fascia and your soleus, and that's going to take some of the load off your quads."

4. WORK ON YOUR FORM

Although you're aided by gravity, running downhill properly takes some effort and precision, especially if your typical running mechanics aren't as fluid as they could be. Because you don't have to work as hard to run downhill, it's easy to get a bit carefree and run too fast or with bad form.

As a surface slopes downward, you need to adjust your body position with a forward lean to keep you from hard heel striking, McGee says. Step down to the surface with each stride instead of stepping out to avoid overstriding and excessive impacts. Also, try to reduce upward oscillation (or bounding) and run softly with short strides and a high cadence.

When you're running downhill workouts of any speed, concentrate on your form to make sure you're not overstriding or hitting the ground with too much impact, McGee says. "Think about trying to quickly cycle your legs under your pelvis," he adds. "The duration of each footstrike should be very short and very light. With higher turnover and shorter, more frequent steps, you're absorbing less shock per footstrike."

5. OTHER DETAILS

For downhill marathons (or half marathons), consider running in a shoe that has ample forefoot cushioning, more padding than your normal marathon flats and definitely not a minimalist racing flat built for 5K and 10K racing. And that's especially so for taller runners or those who carry more weight than some of their peers. "When it comes to downhill courses, I'm a fan of finding a shoe with a little bit more in the front because you're putting a lot more pounding on your pads and your legs will thank you at the 20-mile mark even if the shoe has to be 2 ounces heavier," Rea says. (See page 10 for more about marathon racing flats.)

A downhill race with a course that runs over softer dirt or gravel surfaces can minimize the negative impacts associated with running downhill. A few examples are the Whistlestop Marathon in Ashland, Wis., and the Bizz Johnson Trail Marathon near Susanville, Calif., both of which are run on wide trails built on old railroad grades. "A course like that can help you cardiovascularly because you're running with gravity, but it doesn't beat you up muscularly," McGee says.

Running on technical trails with undulating terrain or doing barefoot post-workout striders a couple of times a week can help strengthen your feet and lower legs and develop the proprioception, or feel for the road, which is especially important for downhill running.

Whereas a two-week tapering period is sufficient before running a marathon, McGee recommends giving yourself at least three weeks for tapering before a downhill race to make sure your legs are as fresh as possible on race day.